Oliver Strange - Sudden Westerns 07 - Sudden Rides Again(1938) (20 page)

 
          
“What
the devil are you doing here?” his employer rapped out. “Talk fast, and keep
your hands still.”

 
          
It
was Sudden’s turn to look astonished. “I’m here to report, seh,” he said
simply.

 
          
“And
you brought your nerve with you,” the Colonel retorted. “Having got the herd
hidden I suppose you could be spared?”

 
          
“I’m
in the dark, seh,” the puncher said patiently.

 
          
“Really?
So it will be news that our northern range was
raided last night and over one hundred head driven off, together with as many
Twin Diamond steers?”

 
          
“It
certainly is.”

 
          
“Yu
an’ Frosty have bin roustin’ out an’ bunchin’ cattle on that boundary,” Lagley
remarked.

 
          
“At yore orders.”

 
          
“So yu knowed where to find ‘em.”

 
          
Sudden’s
eyes narrowed. “Yu tryin’ to tell me I stole the stock?” he asked.

 
          
“Just
that,” the foreman replied.
“Lyin’ about it won’t buy yu
nothin’.
Yu were seen—that white blaze on yore black is plenty unusual.”

 
          
“Who
saw me?”

 
          
“Several o’ the boys—yore side-kick, Frosty, among ‘em.”

 
          
“Their
sight must be good, me bein’ in—”

 
          
“Red
Rock, was yu about to say?” Lagley sneered. “We happen to know yu never went
near there.”

 
          
“That
was a stall,” Sudden explained. “I told the Colonel I was goin’ to Hell City.”

 
          
“On
my business, but it seems to have been on his own,” Keith said acridly. “He
deceived me.”

 
          
“I’ll
say he did,” the foreman cried exultantly. “Gives him a chance to pull off the
rustlin’ an’ if he’s seen there, yu can’t chirp—he’s workin’ for yu. Damned smart,
I gotta hand it to yu, Sudden; the on’y mistake yu made was usin’ yore own
hoss. I guess that fixes yu, good an’ proper.”

 
          
He
looked expectantly at his companions. Merry slowly shook his head. “It looks
like yu might be right, Lagley, but I hate to find myself mistaken in a man,”
he said.
“What yu goin’ to do, Ken?”

 
          
“Hang
him at sunrise,” was the stern reply. “A rope’s the only remedy for rustling.
Take his guns, Steve, and shoot if he makes a move.”

 
          
Sudden’s
brain was busy. The rancher’s threat was no empty one, and to allow
himself
to be taken meant a shameful death; there would be
no mercy for a man who had helped to rob his own range. Only a single chance
remained, desperate, but he must take it. Three of them would be firing at him,
but…

 
          
Silent,
with arms hanging loosely from drooping shoulders as though overwhelmed by the
catastrophe which had overtaken him, he waited until the foreman moved to do
his master’s bidding. Then his left hand flashed to his belt and a bullet
shattered the hanging light, plunging the room into darkness. Three spits of
flame followed, but the fugitive had instantly dropped to hands and knees,
dived for the window, and disappeared amid a shower of broken glass. When the
three reached the verandah, the diminishing drum of pounding hooves apprised
them that they were too late. An excited group of half-clad men came surging
from the bunkhouse, and Lagley was yelling to them to get their guns and horses
when Keith stopped him.

 
          
“Don’t
be seven sorts of a damned fool,” he said savagely. “
you
had him covered, in the light, and he got away. Fine chance you’d have in the
dark. Tell the men to turn in, and do the same.”

 
          
When
the foreman had gone, Merry turned to his host. “I’m just as pleased he made
it.
It’s
true things looked bad, but I can size up a
fella with most, an’ I’m bettin’ there’s an explanation.”

 
          
“There
is always that for the lunatic willing to believe it. Better put him on your
pay-roll.”

 
          
“I
will, if he shows up,” Martin grinned. “He’s worth three o’ yore foreman.”

 
          
“Steve’s
stupid, but he’s honest,” Keith replied.

 
          
“Mebbe,
but he ain’t the man he used to be, an’ I’d have no opening for him at the Twin
Diamond,” Martin said. “Hullo, here’s Miss Joan come to see which of us she’s
gotta weep over.”

 
          
The
girl, wrapped in a great-coat, and carrying a candle, was standing in the
wrecked window. Keith explained what had happened.

 
          
“I
don’t believe that Green would steal cattle,” she said. Merry burst out
laughing and slapped his friend on the shoulder. “Two to one against yu,
ol’-timer; yo’re outvoted,” he cried.

 
          
“Which
ought to convince me, I suppose?” Keith replied stiffly. “Well, it doesn’t. If
I lay hands on the scoundrel again, he swings, even if he’s riding for you,
Martin.”

 
          
‘Satisfied
that he would not be pursued ln the dark, Sudden eased his mount after covering
a few miles. He saw clearly enough what had occurred: Satan and Lagley had
“framed” him, and his absence from the Double K had provided the opportunity. A
daub of white paint and the bandit’s black would convincingly resemble Nigger
in the starlight. Satan’s reference to his early return to Hell City recurred
to him and he now understood the sly smile which had then puzzled him. The
reason for the plot was not so obvious. Either the bandit wished to force the
cowboy to join him openly, or to get rid of him altogether. Sudden did not
think the latter likely, though it might well have suited Lagley.

 
          
Dismissing
the matter from his mind, he began to seek a place to spend the night, for he
had no intention of returning to Hell City until daylight. It did not take him
long; at a spot where the trail to Dugout dipped between brush-covered slopes,
he found a grassy hollow from which he could see without being seen. He
picketed his horse, but did not remove the saddle, rolled himself in his
blanket, and, back against a sapling, was soon asleep.

 
          
The
sun was climbing the eastern sky when a merry but unmelodious voice awoke him;
it seemed familiar. Creeping forward, he parted the bushes; Frosty was riding
leisurely towards him. Sudden grinned, thrust out a gun, and called hoarsely:
“Push ‘em up, yu yowlin’ he-cat.”

 
          
The
rider’s start of surprise nearly threw him out of the saddle, but the
protruding weapon admitted no argument; he raised his hands. The hidden voice
went on grumblingly: “
Oughta
blow yore light out,
spoilin’ my sleep an’ pizenin’ the atmosphere thataway. Explain yoreself.”

 
          
Try
as he might, he could not keep the mirth out of his tone. Frosty detected it;
he lowered his hands.

 
          
“Shoot
an’ be damned,” he said.

 
          
Instead
of a bullet, came an order. “The sheriff o’ Dugout will get off that bone-bag
he calls a hoss an’ step up here, fetchin’ said bone-bag along.”

 
          
The
cowboy did as directed and found
himself
facing the
smiling owner of the voice. “Knowed it was yu allatime,” he said hastily.
“Just had to let yu play yore kid game.
No, there ain’t
nobody
followin’ me; I slipped off.”

 
          
“To find me?”

 
          
“I
was hopin’—figured yu might go to town. Jim, I don’t savvy—thought mebbe yu
could wise me up.”

 
          
“I
ain’t very
clear
my own self,” Sudden admitted. “Yu
were there when the herd was run off?”

 
          
“Yeah,
four of us was watchin’ them steers yu an’ me bin collectin’—Steve had a hunch
somethin’ was goin’ to happen,” Frosty said.

 
          
Sudden’s
grin was ironical. “He would have,” he commented. “An’ he wanted plenty
witnesses.”

 
          
“Over
a dozen of ‘ern closed in onus from all sides, firin’,” Frosty continued. “They
got Denver in the leg, crippled two hosses, an’ swept the cows off before we’d
got our breath; it was the neatest gather. The leader’s mount was the spit o’
Nigger.”

 
          
“Was
he masked?”

 
          
“I
didn’t get that close an’ the light was poor, but I’d say he had a bandanna
round his chops. He shorely looked liked yu, Jim.”

 
          
“It
warn’t me
nor
Nigger—both of us was in Hell City.”

 
          
“Yu
didn’t go to Red Rock?”

 
          
“Never
meant to, an’ Keith knowed it,” Sudden said. “I’ve been framed, cowboy. Mister
Satan wants me to throw in with him.”

 
          
“I’ll
bet yu’d not do that, Jim.”

 
          
“Then
yu’d lose, for that is precisely what I’m goin’ to do,” was the sardonic
answer. “Are yu suggestin’ I should let the Double K string me up?”

       
“There’s other places,” Frosty pointed
out.

 
          
“I
know it,” Sudden retorted harshly. “I’m to go on the dodge for somethin’ I
didn’t do, huh? That’s happened before, an’ I’m through. This time I’ll hit
back, an’ hit hard.”

 
          
The
bitter vehemence of this declaration told that further argument would be
useless. Frosty was silent for a while, and then : “If yu need help, Jim, yu
on’y gotta mention it—that’s what I really came to say, an’ I reckon it goes
for some o’ the others, too.”

 
          
“I’m
obliged, but there’s no call for my friends to put their necks in a noose
because I do,” Sudden replied.

 
          
“
Pickles !”
Frosty laughed. “Friends oughta hang together,
anyways. We’re backin’ yu—the limit.”

 
          
“Which
is mighty good hearin’,” Sudden said soberly. “I got a sorta ambition to
abolish Hell City, but yu needn’t mention it yet awhile.”

 
          
Frosty
stared at him incredulously. “Is that all?” he asked. “What yu goin’ to do in
yore spare time?”

 
          
“I’ll
have to think up somethin’,” Sudden grinned. “Listen: I happened on a private
way o’ gettin’ into the place.” He described the spot. “Find, but don’t use it
till yu have a word from me. Still got that badge? Good, yu may need it.”

 
          
“Jim,
d’yu reckon
Steve is Toxin’?”

 
          
“He
was powerful eager to see me dance on nothin’.”

 
          
“No
foreman likes to have his cattle stole.”

 
          
“That’s
true; but I wouldn’t trust him. Now, I gotta be on the move.
So
long.”

 
          
“When
yu want us we’ll come a-runnin’,” were Frosty’s parting words.
“Yu goin’ to town?”

 
          
“Yeah,
I couldn’t stay for supper las’ night an’ my
insides is
remindin’ me; fresh air’s good, but it ain’t fillin’.”

 
          
Frosty
watched the black till it disappeared round a curve and then climbed his own
mount. “Just can’t figure him, Cactus,” he mused, “but I’m bettin’ high
he’s—straight.”